Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-08-21
A Technical School.

Va 'A"hNo NoitH Vi SOOuS AAoic VIAL
she imported from that country. Thi
wonderful change was due to the tech
nical schools which Germany had beer
wise enough to establish as a means Of
increasing her commerce with Other
nations-just such schools as the Viz
Qinia Mechanics Institute is expected
TO be.
A word to the wise is sufficient. Let
the City Council deal literally with the
Mechanics Institute.
Ia the Editor Of Dispatch
Some philosophers have asserted
that 1.-the proper way to bring up a
boy is the back way" and "that a boy
is specially designed by Providence to
be like canal-boat, boarded astern. y
But these philosophical maxims may
be applied to a large class of our boys
who are reared and cultivated as the
weeds and briars which adorn the
bitches of our fields; or, in other
words, to the boys who are forced up
by nature, and not cultivated at all
And this is true of large number of
our boys not only those who have
not yet started on some line of demar-
cation for the future, but of great
percentage of those who have enlisted
as recruits to serve in the battle of life.
1t is no doubt commonly thought that
this class of boys do not want to be
educated-that there is no necessity for
their being " crammed full of WISDOM"
and that the efforts required to obtain
it are too great for the results. There
are many persons of opinion that boys
who are destined by the inevitable to
wrench from the world, by manual
labor, the sustenance of their lives do
not need education, as they are only to
perform manual labor, and that educa-
ton i'll belts them for their calling in
life.
The experience Of the writer as q
manufacturer in having had to deal
with Il large number of boys as appren-
tees demonstrates 20 his mind that
such are not facts. To be Imprisoned
III the schOol-house is rcpugnant to the
nature of some boys but when they
have once entered the work shop they
necessarily soon discover their need Of
Learning, and in many cases view it as
a matter beyond their attainment in
hopeless despair.
A large percentage of boys are
forced by circumstances to commence
work very young without the rudi-
ments of an education, and to such
there is but one avenue open-viz., to
spend their evening hours in endeavor-
ing to grasp at something which they
do not realize or know how to APP
proach.
/ assert that education, if not neces.
sary, is certainly very great dcsidc-
roiUm in accomplishing the most tri-
vial results-even to the removal of
stone or the digging of dirt Results
are easily accomplished by the intellect
of the mechanical engineer which
would he almost impossible to the mere
force Of physical exertion.
But this article is simply TO urge the
necessity of a peculiar character of
education-viz., that OF qualifying the
young mechanic TO become skilful in
bis trade, or what is known as "tech-
meal education"-which in past years
was supposed to be applicable only to
the arts, sciences, and professions. Bat
modem mechanism, in all its varied
shapes, has been so developed and adj
vanccd, in order to meet the require
mcnts OF the age, that the dividing
line between mechanics and science is
difficult of being defined.
Every manufacturer knows the neces-
sity OF employing skilled mechanics to
furnish ideas to the body of workmen.
Heretofore it has been difficult to get
such men. Tie attempt was like
searching for n large ear of corn in
field of nubbins. For the present
advanced age of mechanical develop
ment skilled workmen are necessary,
and success as manufacturing com
munity is impossible OF achievement
without them.
Technical education enables the me-
chanic to become a skilled workman,
to demand higher wages, and to be-
come better and more useful citizen,
and ut the same time is equally bene-
fetal to the employer, for 1t is an adj
mitted fact that the profit derived from
skilled labor is greater than that from
the unskilled.
To remove the difficulty of having to
contend with more advanced cOmmu-
mites from the want of skilled labor
the idea was conceived of establishing
the Virginia Mechanics Institute. the
primary object of which is to build up
a night school of technology, for the
theoretical training of apprentices and
boys who have to work in the daytime,
either to acquire knowledge OF some
business or as a means Of their present
support. The needs of such an insti-
tuition and the benefits to be derived
from 1t to the community are so glaring
as scarcely to be debatable. AS this
is to be public institution and free to
NIL who may see fit to reap the benefits
of It, we wish to enlist public attention
in the enterprise, and invite criticism
as to the feasibility of our plans.
We need means with which to ac-
complish the object, aud have asked
aid from the city government-not as
a gift. but simply as loan, to be Sc
cured by mortgage on all the pro
perty of the institute. 1t is the earnest
conviction Of the businessmen who
have interested themselves i'll it that
tie city will never be called upon to
pay dollar of interest or principal OF
the bonds which she may advance for
The purpose. for we have an abiding
faith that our institute will be more
than self-sustainiDg. Shall we have
it, or shall We be content to follow in
the old Iuts, guided by obsolete ideas,
and remain satisfied with the meagre
results of unskilled labor, and leave
the better things to others of more adj
yanced ideas? Respectfully.
w. T.. SIMoNs.